1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system including a web server, a web browser-equipped print control apparatus, and a web browser-equipped image forming apparatus, and a method of forming an image in the image forming system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known an information processing system configured such that an information processing apparatus, such as a PC, is connected to a web server on a network, and an operation screen provided by the web server is displayed on a web browser provided in the information processing apparatus.
In the conventional information processing system, the web browser of the information processing apparatus requests the web server to provide an operation screen. In response to this request, a web application on the web server sends to the information processing apparatus an HTML (hypertext markup language) file for causing the web browser to display the operation screen. The web browser of the information processing apparatus analyzes the received HTML file and displays an operation screen based on a description of the HTML file.
When the user inputs an instruction via the operation screen displayed on the web browser, the web browser sends the input instruction to the web server. Then, the web application on the web server having received the instruction carries out processing according to the received instruction.
Recently, some of image forming apparatuses equipped with a scanner function and a printer function are provided with a web browser as well. An image forming apparatus of this type displays on the web browser thereof an operation screen provided by the web server, following the above-mentioned procedure, and accepts various instructions from the user via the displayed operation screen.
Further, some image forming apparatuses have a print control apparatus attached thereto. The print control apparatus is used to provide an image forming apparatus with a network printer function or to expand and supplement a network printer function originally provided in an image forming apparatus. Some print control apparatuses are provided with an operation screen and a web browser, and a print control apparatus of this type is capable of receiving an HTML file from the web server and displaying an operation screen based on a description of the HTML file.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a so-called multi-display system including a plurality of displays and configured to display an operation screen on each of the displays (see e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-085057). The multi-display system acquires an operation screen from a web server and displays the operation screen on each of the displays. More specifically, a browser controller requests a proxy section, based on an address input via an input device, to acquire an operation screen. In response to this request, the proxy section acquires contents from the web server. When the operation screen is acquired from the web server, an image display unit displays only its own display area portion of the operation screen
By the way, operation screen display data stored in the web server may be requested by the web browser of the print control apparatus or by the web browser of the image forming apparatus. Further, for example, in a case where the web browser of the image forming apparatus issues the request, it is sometimes desired not only to update the display contents of the web browser of the image forming apparatus, but also to update the display contents of the web browser of the print control apparatus in timing synchronous with the update on the web browser of the image forming apparatus. On the other hand, in a case where the web browser of the print control apparatus issues the request, it is sometimes desired to update the display contents of the web browser of the print control apparatus, but not to update the display contents of the web browser of the image forming apparatus. Conventionally, however, it is impossible to switch between an operation for updating both the display contents of the web browser of the image forming apparatus and the display contents of the web browser of the print control apparatus, and an operation for updating the display contents of only one of the two web browsers, depending on which of the two browsers has requested the display data. More specifically, the multi-display system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-085057 can perform only an operation for updating the display contents of all the displays, when the proxy section acquires contents from the web server.